Trisong Detsen

Ingested on the line stated in the header: the retrievable material about him is the Samye narrative, which is a story about land-spirits, not a reign-chronicle. No claim is made here about his identification as an emanation, which the retrieved sources do not carry.

Domains

• kingship
• patronage of the dharma

Relations

• invited: Śāntarakṣita
• invited: Padmasambhava
• descendant in the line of: Songtsen Gampo

Sources

• Reference treatment of the founding of Samye: Santaraksita was invited to Tibet by King Trisong Detsen, founded the temple and monastery of Samye and ordained the first seven Tibetan monks in 779, establishing the Tibetan sangha; construction begun in 763 met serious resistance from the non-human forces native to Tibet, and at Santaraksita's insistence the king invited the Indian Vajrayana master Padmasambhava, who tamed the local spirits and bound all human and non-human obstructers to the service of the Dharma before the monastery's completion in 767.